News

Beach volleyball
01/01/2017

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour returning again to Sydney, Australia

Lausanne, Switzerland, September 1, 2017 - After presenting a women’s only 2-Star Open in March of 2017, Sydney, Australia will host the double-gender FIVB Sydney 2-Star Open to be held from November 22 to 26, 2017. The event will be the fourth tournament on the 2017 portion of the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. There was also a double-gender 2017 FIVB World Tour 1-Star Open in March in Shepparton, Australia.

The first time that an FIVB international women’s event was held in Sydney was 17 years ago when the 2000 Olympic Games were played on beautiful Bondi Beach.

The five-star structure instituted starting with the 2017 FIVB World Tour is one of the many steps taken by the FIVB to modernize and streamline its competitions in a golden period for beach volleyball on the heels of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and on the road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F° said, “The aim of the new structure is to provide a platform and formation of events that increase the number of competitions in a growing number of hosting countries and create a sustainable business model while providing additional commercial flexibility and opportunities.”

On the women’s side in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Australia’s own Natalie Cook/Kerri Pottharst captured the gold medal. The other two podium placements went to Brazilian tandems with Shelda Bede/Adriana Behar earning the silver and Sandra Pires/Adriana Samuel winning the bronze medal.

Overall, Australia has hosted 13 FIVB international events including the 2000 Olympic Games. On the women’s side seven tournaments have been held in four different cities with Brisbane and Sydney leading the way with two events. With one women’s event each has been Adelaide and Melbourne and Shepparton. The men have had six FIVB international events in Australia.

In the men’s medal count, Brazil leads with seven total medals followed by the United States (5), Australia (2) and with one men’s medal each in Australia are Argentina, China, Germany and New Zealand.

In the women’s medal count, Brazil has dominated with 10 total medals followed by Australia (4), the United States (3), Canada (2), and Germany (2).

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds the world’s largest natural harbour and sprawls towards the Blue Mountains to the west. Residents of Sydney are known as "Sydneysiders". Sydney is the second official seat and second official residence of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia.

The Sydney area has been inhabited by indigeneous Australians for at least 30,000 years. The first British settlers, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, arrived in 1788. Since convict transportation ended in the mid-19th century, the city has transformed from a colonial outpost into a major global cultural and economic centre.

As at June 2015 Sydney's estimated population was 4.92 million. In the 2011 census, 34 per cent of the population reported having been born overseas, representing many different nationalities and making Sydney one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are more than 250 different languages spoken in Sydney and about one-third of residents speak a language other than English at home.

In addition to hosting events such as the 2000 Olympic Games, Sydney is among the top 15 most-visited cities in the world, with millions of tourists coming each year to see the city's landmarks. Its natural features include Sydney Harbour, the Royal National Park and the Royal Botanic Garden. Man-made attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower and the Sydney Harbor Bridge are also well known to international visitors.

The format, adopted in January of 2017 has all the FIVB Beach Volleyball international tournaments using the Star System from 1-5 having qualifying and a 32-team single-elimination tournament for 5-Star tournaments starting with qualifying followed by pool play and then single elimination knockout rounds. The 1-Star through 4-Star tournaments will modify as needed the basic format to accommodate the particular event with most having a single-elimination tournament. Country Quota playoffs returned as needed in 2015 to determine the final teams for the qualification tournament.

Part of the 2017 edition of the FIVB Sports Regulations for beach volleyball, the new FIVB World Ranking system is based on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points earned at the eight best performances as a team in all FIVB sanctioned or homologated Beach Volleyball Events over a 365-days period. The FIVB World Ranking is updated every Monday after an FIVB sanctioned or homologated event granting FIVB Beach Volleyball Ranking Points.

The first men’s FIVB World Tour event was played February 17-22, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil while the first women’s FIVB World Tour event in Brazil was played in 1993 in Rio de Janeiro. The women’s FIVB World Tour held its first tournament in Spain in 1992.